The Significance of Demographic Variables on Psychosocial Health from the Early Stage and Nine Months after the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak. A Cross-National Study

Amy K. Østertun Geirdal, Daicia Price, Mariyana Schoultz, Hilde Thygesen, Mary Ruffolo, Janni Leung and Tore Bonsaksen
Additional contact information
Amy K. Østertun Geirdal: Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, 0167 Oslo, Norway
Daicia Price: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Mariyana Schoultz: Department of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Hilde Thygesen: Department of Occupational Therapy, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Faculty of Health Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, 0167 Oslo, Norway
Mary Ruffolo: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Janni Leung: Faculty of Health and Behavioural Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
Tore Bonsaksen: Faculty of Health Studies, VID Specialized University, 4306 Sandnes, Norway

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: This cross-national study explored stability and change in mental health, quality of life, well-being and loneliness during the early stage and nine months after the implementation of COVID-19 pandemic social distancing measures and periodic lockdowns as adjusted by demographic variables. In the USA, the UK, Australia and Norway, 7284 individuals responded to the invitation to take part in two cross-sectional web-based surveys (April and November 2020), including questions about sociodemographic variables and psychosocial outcomes. Independent t -tests and generalized linear models (GLM) and estimated marginal means were used to analyze differences between subgroups and countries, multiple linear regression analyses were conducted on the psychosocial outcome measures by demographic variables and time in each country and mean responses presented by time after adjusting for all demographic variables in the model. Age, gender, civil status, education, employment, place of work and living area were all significant factors for psychosocial health across the countries. Differences in mental health, quality of life, well-being and loneliness were found between the countries in both April and November 2020, while time did not contribute to reducing the toll in any of the four countries over the nine-month period.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; psychosocial health; mental health; quality of life; well-being; loneliness; cross-national study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4345/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4345/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4345-:d:539427

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().